You might recall when I posted about the weird creationist high-school text book. Well, this is kind of like that. I came across it through my Pinterest account, weirdly enough. It's a ministry plan to help "Toddlers Know God". Having a toddler, my curiosity was piqued.

Now, I am sure that any parent who would actually use this plan really believes that they're doing the best thing for their child. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. But honestly, personally, I found it all pretty disturbing to read. Here's an excerpt from one of their activities designed for children aged 18 months - 24 months.

Quote

With toddlers, you want to keep your lesson simple. If your class is able, get them to sit together on floor in front of you. Show them the picture of a shepherd. Hold up your Bible. SAY: The Bible tells us God is our good Shepherd. The Bible is His Word. SAY: God is our good Shepherd. We are His sheep. He takes care of us. (Repeat three times.)

The following activities are designed to reinforce the simple Scripture truth, encourage their development, and engage their imaginations and creativity.

This is followed by a game where the children pretend that they are sheep and the instructor pretends that he or she is God counting his sheep. I get that, at this age, kids need a ton of repetition to "get" things, but it just seems so brain-washy! An 18-month old is supposed to be able to understand what God is?

I'd actually like some Christian input on this, because I never really thought about this sort of thing at all when I was religious (I was a kid myself, for most of my Christian-days)

« Last Edit: July 01, 2012, 02:03:35 AM by DeterminedJuliet »

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"We’ve thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

Sounds like the same sort of thing I got in Sunday school every week, as well as at Family Home Evening (a Mormon thing). Didn't take with me, didn't take with a lot of other people.

The way I see it is you can try as hard as you want to bend the twig/brainwash the kid, but it's still a crap shoot. People whose minds don't fit with that sort of thing will eventually leave, those whose minds do fit it will stay. People whose minds fit with that sort of thing but weren't raised with it will find their way to it even without childhood instruction.

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Sandy

"I think this is the prettiest world -- as long as you don't mind a little dying, how could there be a day in your whole life that doesn't have its splash of happiness?" from The Kingfisher, by Mary Oliver

Sounds like more of the stamp out independent thought education that is business as usual.

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It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science - Charles Darwin

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the object of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a god, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. - Albert Einstein

Religion is a by product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity. - Arther C. Clarke

I wonder if modern kids know what a shepherd is. My grandson (4) sees plenty of sheep, but there are very few shepherds in England and he's never seen one. Nor have I.

In the middle ages when livestock were not confined to enclosed fields, every kid knew in detail what a shepherd was and did. Nowadays those functions are no longer performed.

Maybe the xtians should teach the kids about the good boss in McDonalds who looks after the chips and burgers.

Haha, that's the thing, I don't get, I guess. These are crazy abstract ideas for children so little. The husband and I were talking about it yesterday, and the equivalent would be trying to explain to our two-year old what Nationalism is on Canada Day. Yeah, sure, we'll probably have that conversation at some point, but would you expect someone that young to process it? How could an 18-month old really know what a shepherd is, let alone God/Bible, etc?

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"We’ve thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.

Of course, agricultural life in medieval Europe closely parallelled that in biblical Palestine, so sheep herding, sowing and reaping, fishing - all these metaphors worked excellently in older times. Not now, though. I doubt if even all modern farmers would understand sowing a crop by broadcasting, or having to separate out "tares".

I wonder if modern kids know what a shepherd is. My grandson (4) sees plenty of sheep, but there are very few shepherds in England and he's never seen one. Nor have I.

In the middle ages when livestock were not confined to enclosed fields, every kid knew in detail what a shepherd was and did. Nowadays those functions are no longer performed.

Maybe the xtians should teach the kids about the good boss in McDonalds who looks after the chips and burgers.

Haha, that's the thing, I don't get, I guess. These are crazy abstract ideas for children so little. The husband and I were talking about it yesterday, and the equivalent would be trying to explain to our two-year old what Nationalism is on Canada Day. Yeah, sure, we'll probably have that conversation at some point, but would you expect someone that young to process it? How could an 18-month old really know what a shepherd is, let alone God/Bible, etc?

The point is, of course, not to have the children understand anything.The point is to indoctrinate the children in to proper thought.

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It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science - Charles Darwin

I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the object of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a god, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. - Albert Einstein

Religion is a by product of fear. For much of human history, it may have been a necessary evil, but why was it more evil than necessary? Isn't killing people in the name of God a pretty good definition of insanity. - Arther C. Clarke

Pffft. I'd go one better and clicker-train them with communion wafers.

LOL!!!

Excellent idea

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If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.“Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt.” ― Richard P. Feynman'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry PratchettRemember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.